Contents

Beginnings

Stephen Hillenberg came up with Spongebob when the Nick execs told him they needed an underwater show, because that was the only concept they could come up with. Stephen started wriggling around his pencil on a piece of paper, in thought. The resulting scribbles looked a lot like a star. It hit him that this star would be the main character of the show! He named the star Patrick after his mother. He did some refining to the character design, then showed his idea to Nick. "The show is called Spongebob Squarepants," he said, "and the main character is named Patrick Star. He annoys Squidward, and works at a resteraunt." The Nick people were excited, but confused about the title of the show, and how it had nothing to do with the show. So Steve added another, new main character to name the show after- Spongebob Squarepants. And so the show began.

Popularity

Spongebob made history as the first-ever cartoon character with two B's in his name. The show became popular around World War II, when soldiers watched episodes to improve their battle skills. Nobody really knows why, because instead of improving battle skills, it actually worsened them, doubling the casualties. Spongebob became even more popular when Ryan Seacrest said his dog watched it. This heightened Spongebob's popularity around the world.

Appearances in Pop Culture

Spongebob has been referenced in many shows, movies, and Animal Planet Specials. Here are some sightings:

The title character of Scooby-Doo has an S in his name. Spongebob also has an S in his name.